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AMOS DRAPER.
The first white settler at what is how the village of Owego was Amos Draper, who came here as a trader
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among the Indians and who by his .integrity obtained . their . friendship. and confidence and had great influenice over them. He was a son of Major Simeon Draper, who was one of the "forty"' settlers at Kingston, Pa., in the Wyoming valley under the Connecticut claim, and who settled there in 1768.
Amos Draper had been living a few years, in a temporarily construct.' ed house on the south bank of the Susquehanna river on the flat called the old Mersereau flat at Choconut nearly opposite Union. His family came there from Kingston in the fall of 1786.
During that . year . Mr. Draper built a log house at Owego. It stood on the eastern part of the lot on which Gurdon H. Pumpelly's house now' stands, in west Front street and was about one hundred feet from the bank of the river .. It faced south on the old Indian trail, which then ran , along. the bank pretty, closely. This. Indian trail struck the river 'about a mile above the bridge where the river road runs nearest to the river bank. Continu- ing down the river it followed the bank to the mouth of the , Owego creek: . In building this house Mr. Draper brought the boards for the floor up the river by canoes from Kingston, Pa.
In May, 1787, the Drapers removed to Owego and began living in their new house. While living here Mr. Draper continued his business of trafficing with the Indians at Cho- onut. The first winter of their resi- dence here a christianized Oneida
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Indian chief and his wife, who bore the title of Queen, lived in the house with Mrs. Draper, and acted as her protectors.
Mrs. Draper's maiden name : was Lydia Williams, and at the time of her marriage she lived at Kingston.
Several years afterward the Drapers . lived in another log house which stood a little back of where Mrs. John Brown's residence . now stands at the northwest corner of Main and McMaster streets.
Amos Draper's brother, . Joseph Draper, was a later comer here. He was a surveyor. The brothers were entirely unlike. . The late William Pumpelly, who knew them well, in- formed the writer that Joseph Draper was a loud talker and very self-assertive, while. Amos Draper was the reverse in every respect-a quiet man and esteemed by every- body.
Amos Draper's daughter, Selecta Draper, was the first white child born at Owego. She was born June 19, 1788. She became the wife of Stephen Williams,of Newark Valley, in 1809. He was born at West Stock- bridge, Mass., in 1783, and came with his father, also named Stephen Williams, to Newark Valley in 1801.
Amos Draper had two sons, Amos and Benjamin Draper, and two : daughters, Selecta and Catherine Draper. . Amos Draper, Jr., died near Victor, N. Y., and Benjamin at Fairfax Court House, Va. Cath- erine . became the wife of Ewart Williams. Selecta died April 2, 1865, at the home of her son, Lucius Ewart Williams, at Newark valley.
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After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Williams lived at Newark : Valley, then known as Brown's set- tlement, where they purchased & farm and built a house. At the time of Mrs. Williams's death, in
.1865, the house was occupied by the widow of Chester Patterson. . Mr. Williams died af Newark Valley July 6, 1859, At the time. of Mrs . Williams's death six of of her ten children survived her as follows:
Catharine Minerva, married An- brose Collins; of Berkshire.
Dr. Charles Draper, of St. Paul, Minn. Horatio Spencer, of. Woodhull, N. Y.
Myron Milton, of St. Paul, Minn, Joseph Edwin, of Cleveland, Ohio Lucius . Ewart, of Newark . Valley. Mary married Elisha Hurd, of Aurora, Ohio.
Amos. Draper died in this village May 24, 1808. At that time the vil- lage burying ground was at the present corner of Main and Court streets, and extended south to about the east line of the lot on which the new Tioga county clerk's office now stands. Mr. " Draper's body was buried where the old clerk's office stood, between the present jail and the old academy . buildings. . When men were digging for the founda- tion wall of the first clerk's, office, in 1825, . they cut . through Mr. Draper's. grave.
Lucius E. Williams, of Newark Valley, is a son of Stephen Williams and the last survivor of ten children.
Joseph Draper was unmarried. He died of consumption at the home of. Lucius E: Williams in 1832 or 1833, and his body was buried in
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the Newark Valley cemetery. Mr. Williams has an oil portrait of Joseph Draper. A historical society should be organized in Owego and this portrait and other portraits of early settlers should be gathered to- gether for preservation.
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d. 21 Mar 1773, Pennsylvania, USA 
